Improvement in the preparation of straw for the manufacture of paper



mt sale amt area. i

LORENZO DEAN, on FORT EoWARn- EW YORK;

Letters Patent No. 109,596, dated November 29, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION, or STRAW FOR THE MANUFACTURE or PAPE TheSbhedu1e referred to in these Letters latent and 'rnaking part or thesame.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Lonunzo DEAN, .ofFortjEdward, in the county of Washington and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Preparing Straw beforeConverting it'-iuto-P ulp;'

and I do hereby declare that the following is'a'full,

clear, and exact description of the same. a

My invention or. discovery relates to the preparation of straw andfibrous materials for conversion into pulp or paper-stock, and "consistsin a new method of preparing the straw, which will firstbe described inconnection with all that is necessary toafull understanding thereof, andthen clearly specified in the summary or claim.

p In the first place, I take the long straw and macerate it betweenrolls, to destroy the tough texture of the fiber and crush the jointsthereof; while,secondly, I remove the color and gluten therefrom byrepeated soakings (continued in length of time accordingto the conditionof straw when harvested) in a succession of tepid waters. After thesetwo operations the condition of the straw presents important advantages.

First, the fiber has become so completely broken down, and the cohesionof'its parts so weakened, that a much s'm. ller quantity of chemicalswill be required to thoroughly disintegrate and reduce the mass to astate of pulp. Bythis meansthc cost to the manuiacturenaud consequentlyto the public, is greatly lessened.

Second, the crushing of the joints enables the bleaching process toeradicate the colored spots which usually distinguish the points oflocation .of the said knots or joints.

Third, the removal of the gluten and waxy substance before submittingthe straw to the action of the chemicals destroys the cohesion whichnaturally. exists between the constituent parts of the straw, andenables the manufacturer to produce not only a finer and more perfectpulp, buta more uniform and homo- I am aware of the patent of Tait' andHolbro'ok, who cut straw into short pieces, grind it to powder be-.tween stone or""rain-burs sift the "ritt' articles therefrom, and thenbleach it preliminarily before the application of chemicals. The cuttingof the straw, however, into small pieces necessitates an outlay formachinery, and expensive labor, which I dispense-with altogether. N ext,the maceration by simple rollers is itself a cheaper operation thangrinding, while the result is equally well adapted to prepare the fiberfor being saturated with liquid. The winnowiug-machine I also dispensewith entirely.. Again, the said patentees merely soak it in water todecolorize partially,

while I saturate themacerated fiber with a succession of tepid watersuntil a 'much larger portion of the coloring-matter andthe gluten areremoved.

When prepared to submit to the action of chemicals, my pulp has beenprepared at fifty per cent. less cost than that of Tait and Holbrook,while it is in much-better condition 'on account of the nearly insolublegluten and waxy substance being removed. They require three separatemachines, and more than three times the skilled labor. v 7

Having thus described all thatli's necessary to a clear understanding ofmy invention,

hat I esteem to be new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is--The method of preparing fibrous material for conversion into paper-pulp,by macerating the long straw \Vit-uesses:

' ALEX. I ROBERTS, JAMnsT. GRAHAM.

